Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The beginning of ortho!

So this week I started working with the ortho patients mainly instead of the plastics patients. And boy, what a entry in Monday was... We overwrapped 2 patients' casts, overwrapped and placed our experimental pelvic bands on 2 more patients, wedged 2 other patients casts, windowed casts for pin care, the whole 9 yards...basically, any crazy casting things that need to be done was done, giving me a good taste of what the next 6-8 weeks hold! (And there is no way I could have accomplished all of that myself - Nick instructed me, dayworkers and nurses also helped...funny how it can take up to 4 people to get a small kid's cast exactly how it needs to be.)

Ortho is pretty awesome because you see a very obvious result with the surgery - curved bones are straightened. It definitely can be hard work...I could use a rolling stool to help the little kids walk as they're a little shorter than is good for bending over to help with their gait as they learn to use a tiny little walker or crutches for the first time. Often you have to move their legs for them, sometimes they're very painful, and currently we've had a couple patients go ballistic with itchiness (of course we tell the nurse who gives them some benadryl or the like and it calms down). I might go ballistic with itchiness, too, if I keep on getting fiberglass stuck on my skin...I currently look like I have a massive scrape on my forearm...but it's just because I was using red fiberglass to overwrap a cast today!

One of the sad parts about starting with ortho is having to say goodbye to my plastics patients... Most of my plastics patients are in outpatient now, but I had about 5-6 still inpatients as well. I would love to ask for ya'll to pray for Geril. He's one of my favorites...teenage boy with a super sweet nature, he tries really hard and doesn't complain, but he's been in the hospital a long long time with areas in between his fingers that are taking a very long time to heal. He will continue having therapy, it just won't be me because I'll be switched over to ortho. But with the healing, his movement is limited because you can actually see the finger movement pulling at the wounds when his dressings are down...such a hard balance sometime to figure out wound healing vs. preserving/regaining movement. But he needs your prayers to protect him from infection as his wounds are still quite deep, and protect his heart as well - I can only imagine seeing many of his friends discharge to the Hope Center or home would get very frustrating after a while... Yet in the ward church service you see him smiling and singing along, and he always is ready to tease me or give me a smile.

Geril is in the yellow shirt with 2 other of my patients (Eliezar and Wame), a baby sister of another patient, and a nurse. Eliezar is featured in the awesome video I will post when it becomes available...which apparently now isn't until December 3rd. Sadly you will have to wait! (But it's such a good video...and I'm even in it! :) )

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement!! I am definitely missing the fall (Mama put up some amazing leaf pictures!), but have been indulging in some pumpkin and apple goodness. I'm organizing a 4 on 4 beach volleyball tournament for this Saturday...sadly my 3 on 3 dream team will not make an appearance. Thursday our rehab team is heading to one of our dayworker's houses to have dinner with him and his family so that should be fun!

Nick is leaving in less than 3 weeks...it will be so weird to be here without him as he's the only boss I've had here and who tends to know the answers to everything I need to know. And all those strange Australian quirks I've picked up without meaning to. Like today actually calling a walker a "hopper" ( then afterwards I had to explain to my dayworker today that only Australians call them such things), saying "Whoa!" too often or "no dramas" or "are you happy to do ______". Talking smack and having a good foozball partner. I think only his girlfriend will be more sad to see him go...

So with that God is stretching me definitely in how I take on work and prioritize things...so please pray for me to learn these lessons quickly!!! :)

About Me

As I continue to travel around with my job as a physical therapist, I would love to keep up with new and old friends, share the crazy things I may encounter, and through out a few thoughts on life from time to time.
Although I am currently serving with Mercy Ships, everything communicated here strictly reflects my personal opinions and is neither reviewed nor endorsed by Mercy Ships. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Mercy Ships.